


Lost and Found

by aem77



Category: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (TV)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-12 08:09:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7927213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aem77/pseuds/aem77
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Greg loses everything...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Okay. So if she’s being completely honest, things have not been quite as perfect since she and Josh got together as she may have hoped. Take this morning for example. She’d woken early as she frequently did and knowing Josh slept late she’d used the extra few hours to create the perfect romantic morning for the two of them. After showering and perfecting her makeup, she’d made waffles- Josh didn’t have a waffle iron so this necessitated a quick trip to the Target- found the most serene (with just a hint of sexy) music to play in the background, and brewed a fresh pot of steaming hot dark roast. Casually draping herself across one of the dining room chairs in a new silk robe- also from the Target excursion- she’d waited a total 28 minutes for him to finally drag himself out of the bedroom. Her reward, rather than a morning roll in the hay complete with multiple orgasms and _I love you_ s, was a quick peck on the cheek as Josh grabbed a waffle and ran out the door. With only the tiniest hint of hesitation, Rebecca wasted no time in calling Paula to strategize. Clearly getting Josh was only the first step in her happily ever after.    

 

Paula assures her she’ll be over immediately but the sounds of screaming children, thuds, and possible gunfire (!) has Rebecca believing she has at least a half an hour till her BFF shows up. Therefore she’s quite surprised when only 10 minutes later she hears a rustling at Josh’s front door.

 

“I didn’t expect you to be here so soon,” she announces throwing open the door, only half-heartedly working to keep her robe closed.

 

But it isn’t Paula standing there. It’s Greg.

 

Whatever surprise she feels at seeing him unexpectedly on Josh’s stoop is reflected back at her in his face at finding her at the door. The surprise of the encounter leaves both of them vulnerable and she is able to discern panic, sadness, and maybe even regret in his face before his guard is up again.

 

“Greg. Gregory. How nice to see you,” she babbles, hoping against hope to bring some level of normalcy and appropriateness to this unexpected encounter. “What brings you by?”

 

He seems less inclined to civility and sputters out instead, “I was hoping not to run into anyone.”

 

“Well, coming to Josh’s home is maybe not the best option if you’re trying to avoid us,” she returns defensively. Maturely she refrains from adding in a ‘duh’ because really, how dense can you be?

 

He just stares at her, again with an oddly open and vulnerable face, to which she is unaccustomed. Really taking him in for the first time she notices with unwelcomed alarm how awful he looks. His complexion is ashy and his eyes are bloodshot. She notes for the first time the milk carton in his arms.

 

“Are you okay?” She asks now in a much kinder voice. Despite her better judgment, which is screaming at her to distance herself from Greg as much as possible, she can’t quite help the concern she feels in seeing him so discomposed.

 

Rather than answer her, however, Greg closes his eyes for a moment, presumably to compose himself before opening them again and answering, “I just brought this by for Josh.” He gestures towards the milk crate in his arms.

 

“Okay,” Rebecca drags out the word in confusion. Greg hasn’t contacted either Josh or herself since Jayma’s wedding and she can’t imagine what in the world could precipitate Greg’s sudden generosity. She notices for the first time the crate is full of old records.

 

He must sense her confusion, because he adds “They’re from my dad.” He seems to lose heart with this announcement though because he coughs suddenly and violently before setting the crate on the mat before him and turning his back on her and walking suddenly away.

 

She watches him retreat swallowing back her retort. He obviously doesn't want to be there and though she is dying to know what brought him to Josh’s early on a Saturday morning with a milk crate full of records, she doubts Greg is going to satisfy her curiosity. Instead she takes the records back into the apartment and thoroughly busies herself looking through the collection of Rat Pack and late 70s funk till Paula’s insistent knocking on the door pulls her back to the present moment.

 

Though she had urgently summoned her to the apartment a mere hour ago, when Paula finally arrives, Rebecca can’t muster up much enthusiasm for her plots and ploys to manipulate Josh’s affection. Paula seems equally uninterested in attempting to decipher the hidden meaning behind Greg’s sudden arrival and his strange delivery and both women part in a matter of hours with equal dissatisfaction, Paula disturbed by her friend’s continued preoccupation with Greg Serrano and Rebecca with a continuing itch to understand the significance of Mr. Serrano’s records and Greg’s sad and defeated countenance.

 

It isn’t until hours later when Josh finally returns from his shift at work that Rebecca has her answer.

 

When Josh gets home it takes him a minute or two to notice the crate in the corner of the living room. Rebecca purposefully doesn’t draw his attention to it, not quite sure how to introduce Greg’s name into their normal conversation. However after a few moments of mindlessly flipping channels on the television, the crate, which has taken on Herculean proportions in Rebecca’s mind, finally grabs Josh’s attention. As he silently moves to the records and begins thumbing through the selection, Rebecca prepares herself for the worst: Indignation, anger, rage, any number of negative emotions. What she doesn’t expect is Josh’s pure delight.

 

“Oh My God!” He exclaims ecstatically, “Mr. Serrano’s jams!” He begins plucking out record after record, turning delightedly to her showing each album and providing a running commentary on the significance of each. He holds up Frank Sinatra’s “Past Present and Future” and tells her with relish, “New York, New York! This album is why I came to the Big Apple in the first place!” Then with an aside he adds quietly to himself staring down at the album cover, “I can’t believe Mr. Serrano would give these up. Once I asked if I could borrow one and he told me he’d leave them to me when he died.”

 

Josh continues happily thumbing through the milk crate oblivious to the significance of his revelation, but Rebecca clutches to the kitchen counter top as the reality hits her. Greg’s lack of usual defenses, his red-rimmed eyes, the strange unexplained visit and gift: Marco Serrano is dead.


	2. Chapter 2

She is a natural born comforter. Really, its crazy that people don’t talk about how warm and nurturing she can be, Rebecca muses idly as she runs her fingers through Josh’s soft dark hair. His crying has softened to deep sighs now, probably due to her ministrations, and he is reminiscing, his head in her lap, about something to do with his boyhood with the Serrano family. 

Frankly his grief over Mr. Serrano’s death had surprised her. When she had gently walked him to the conclusion that the demise of the elder Serrano had to be the reason Greg, who had gone completely radio silent on them since they’d gotten together, had reached out in this strange and particular fashion, she hadn’t expected such a strong emotional reaction. Though she supposes its natural considering how close the 2 of them once were. She tries hard to imagine them as boys growing up together but manages only to imagine them shrunken in size, their adult personalities fully intact. It might not be so far off she thinks wryly. 

“It’s the right thing to do, don’t you think?” Josh’s question, muffled somewhat by his crying draws her from her musings and back to the present moment.

Not wishing to tarnish the newly minted nurturing persona she’s created for herself, Rebecca finds herself earnestly agreeing with his sentiment without any clue to what he’s referring. It simply wouldn’t do to admit she’d been too busy daydreaming to listen attentively to her boyfriend in his time of need. 

“Absolutely,” she nods aggressively. “It’s the only choice really.”

“Great,” Josh says sincerely rising from his resting position and taking her hands in his. “I know this is going to be awkward for you because of,” he falters a moment and she begins to freak out a little. What the heck did she just agree to? “Your history,” Josh finishes wrinkling his nose a bit at the choice of words. “But we have to go and see him. It’s his Dad, you know?” Josh sounds pained and looks it too. And he’s right; she knows he is. So she nods her head encouragingly even as she inwardly panics at the idea of seeing Greg, a grieving Greg no less, again.

“I knew you’d understand, Becks,” Josh says gratefully. 

On the drive to Greg’s she finds herself imaging varying versions of a grieving Greg. Would he be histrionic, sobbing uncontrollably and rending his hair? She plays with this version in her mind a bit but just can’t quite imagine it. Next she pictures a sullen Greg, sloshing around a bottle of some hard liquor while futilely bemoaning an unfair God. This seems much more likely and she gets a bit carried away by her imagination’s construction, so much so that she is startled when Josh cuts the engine and turns to her in the middle of a conversation she hasn’t been attending to. “It’s gonna be fine, right?” He asks nervously clearly staling for time.

“It is,” she agrees. It will be anyhow, she adds to herself silently. There is no guarantee that Greg will be happy to see them today, in fact it probably isn’t very likely. But when the initial pain of his loss is dulled, she knows he’ll appreciate the gesture they’re making here. Greg is a lot of things, but he’s not a bad person. 

So with a single nod of agreement, they simultaneously make their way to the door of the Serrano home. Rebecca steels herself as Josh rings the buzzer and finds herself vacillating in her mind between the varying Gregs she’s been imagining. Which will she find behind the door?

But it isn’t Greg who appears a moment later. It’s Heather.

“He’s not here,” she says wearily swinging the door open wide to reveal a living room full of visitors. White Josh and Hector sit awkwardly side-by-side on the sofa, visibly uncomfortable, while Valencia lounges opposite on the recliner, stylishly clad in a black pea coat and pillbox hat, a cigarette holder away from being directly out of a French New Wave film. Rounding out the company of grievers is a stylish older woman Rebecca has never seen before who sighs in heavy disappointment as she and Josh enter the room. “Where is he?” She asks the room at large in frustration.

“That’s Shauna,” Heather explains in an aside to Rebecca. “The mother.”

“Oh,” she mouths wordlessly taking a new interest in the woman. She’s always wondered about Greg’s mom, presumably the source of all his neuroses. 

Except for White Josh’s subtle up nod and an aggrieved groan from Valencia, no one takes any notice of their entrance and they all resume sitting idly and awkwardly waiting for Greg. 

A few minutes later when the whine of the hinge opening turns all of their eyes to the door, Rebecca feels a real sorrow for Greg who takes in all of the well-wishers sitting in his living room and looks like he wants to turn right back out again.

“Oh honey!” Shauna exclaims running to embrace him. Though she throws her arms around his neck and clings to him tightly Rebecca notes he doesn’t return the hug.

When she finally releases him, Greg asks, voice oddly hollow, “What’s everyone doing here?” 

“We just wanted to be here for you bro,” White Josh says finally rising from the couch and putting his hand onto Greg’s shoulder in a gesture of consolation. Greg hesitates a minute before returning the gesture with a quiet, “Thanks.”

“Yeah, man,” Hector chimes in, “Whatever you need, we got you.”

“I appreciate that,” Greg replies. It seems for a moment as if the ice is broken and some of the tension in the room has dissipated but then no one else speaks again and the awkwardness becomes unbearable once more. It’s obvious Greg wants them all to leave but no one seems to know how to quite end this weird impromptu and unwanted vigil. 

“Alright, dude,” Heather finally says. Bless Heather and her intolerance for awkwardness, Rebecca thinks, as everyone seems to take a breath again. “I put that stuff you asked for in the fridge. Call me if you need anything else.” She seems to hesitate for a moment before going in for a hug as well and Rebecca is a torn between gratefulness that someone is taking care of Greg and jealousy by how quickly and naturally he returns the gesture. 

“Bye Rebecca. Bye Shauna. Bye all you other people,” she says with a wave before heading out the door. 

“We should go too,” White Josh announces obviously picking up on Greg’s need for space as well. He, Hector and Valencia all make their way to the door, however, before they leave Valencia surprises them all by stopping and speaking directly to Greg. “Your father was a nice man,” she tells him. “I’m sorry he died.” 

Greg simply nods in reply. It may be from surprise from Valencia’s sudden and unexpected kindness, but Rebecca thinks he may not be able to trust himself to speak. She thinks she herself may start crying. 

As the door closes on the latest visitors, Josh seems to think it must be their time to finally offer their condolences because he finally gets up from the couch and stands before Greg. He sighs a few times, perhaps thinking of what best to say, before giving up and hugging Greg forcefully much like Shauna had moments before. “I’m so sorry, man,” Josh sobs into his friend’s shirt and Rebecca wonders if his apology is meant to convey more than just his sympathy for the loss of Marco. 

For a minute it appears Greg will ignore Josh’s attentions just like he had his mother’s, but ultimately some residual affection must occur to him because he raises one of his arms to pat Josh on the back.

“Thanks,” he says. “I mean it. Thanks for coming by. I’ll call you next week, okay?”

It isn’t lost on her that paradoxically it is Greg comforting Josh as he ushers them to the door or that he closes it behind them without a word or look to her. 

Greg’s misery seems a tangible, living thing and she takes a huge gulp of fresh air as they move onto the lawn and away from the dense sadness that seemed to sap up all the oxygen in the Serrano living room. She’s so ashamed of the fanciful and theatrical ways she’d been imaging Greg’s grief she doesn’t realize she’s left her purse behind on the well worn couch till she’s at Josh’s sedan door. 

With a quick explanation, she runs back to the house hoping to pop in and retrieve her purse without alerting anyone to her presence. She’s in luck as the front door opens easily and no one replies to her quiet, “Greg? Anyone? Hello?” 

She’s just on her way out again when she hears a soft singing coming from beyond the living room. Her curiosity paired with an innate impulsivity finds her silently padding down the hallway to the source of the noise. She peeks into one of the bedrooms to find Greg lying along a bed, his head in his mother’s lap. Silently tears stream down his cheeks as she quietly hums and tenderly runs her fingers through his hair.

It strikes her that the vignette they create is not unlike the one of her and Josh earlier that morning, but the tenderness and attention Shauna has focused on her son is miles away from what she now realizes was mindless and haphazard comforting on her part. For the millionth time that day she’s struck by how shallow and artificial her imaginings seem to be when held against the stark reality of Greg’s loss.


End file.
